Ultio Ultionis
by DaintyL5
Summary: Ultio Ultionis: avenging, punishment or revenge. Loki is stuck on Earth with limited power, a crazed warden and a potentially incredibly dangerous trinket. And with a massive hidden threat hanging over his shoulders, Loki has no choice but to turn to an enemy for aid. Loki/Tony, or FrostIron.
1. Necklace

**Hey! Welcome to my fan fic. This is my first multi-chapter Avengers fan fiction, and it's slash! Let us see where this goes...**

**Warnings: Slash content (obviously), bad language, violence, Loki-ness and Tony's disjointed thought processes. Rated for language, which is obviously here because of Tony. It's just how it is.**

**Disclaimer: We fangirls wish we owned this stuff, but we don't. Don't make us suffer by reminding us of that fact.**

**Anyway, I'll let you get on with actually reading. Hope you enjoy it!**

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**ULTIO ULTIONIS**

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**1. Necklace**

X-X-X

It started with a stab of pain, a pound of fear and then there may as well have not been any ground beneath his feet. He would have seen red, but there was no more strength in him left for true anger. He was just left with silent redemption. Cold, burning redemption that hated every fibre of his being and made him hate it too.

If every second of his life had been designed to leave him to this moment then those who wrote the words of fate were far crueller than he had ever wanted to believe. If he could go from being one of the smartest souls he knew to being such an imbecilic monster in such a short amount of time then maybe he did deserve everything that he had received during his life. Maybe he was the monster that he had spent so long making himself out to be, and maybe he really did need to be punished for all of the crimes that he knew perfectly well he had committed.

But that didn't stop him being afraid, because who in any universe wouldn't be? The punishment set up for him was sure to be awful. He had known that from the start. Even before he had made all those mistakes he had known that in the end he would get caught and punished. He wasn't sure whether or not he had admitted it to himself, though. He just knew that he had felt it.

Punishment hit him hard. Harder than he believed he could ever admit. But he sat through it, staring with stony eyes that didn't have the effect that he wished they would. His insides were screaming throughout every second of what they did do him, before he was thrown into the darkness. That was when he stopped being able to tell what was going to happen to him next. But if it was going to be what he thought it was … then he had to do the brave thing.

And so he fled, out of one pool of darkness and into another. That was when he was given the gift. That was when he was given the gift, and that was when he swore on the words _Ultio Ultionis_. Punishment was going to find him again. But he didn't know when.

Loki just hoped, by the Nine he _hoped_, that it wouldn't be as painful as what had already happened to him.

x-x-x

A billionaire, playboy and of course genius philanthropist, Tony Stark was a man of many bad habits. Drinking, barely getting enough sleep to get by, drinking some more and then drinking again. He was not known as a man of responsibility or wise decisions. He was a genius, sure, but still one of the biggest idiots on the face of the planet. And for the most part Tony accepted that. It was a pain, sure, but so was he. He could live with the whole being an irresponsible moron thing without too much difficulty. He always had.

It was the being an irresponsible idiot thing that had Tony up at three o'clock in the morning, scotch in hand, walking up to his bedroom with a headache that was finally starting to slip away. The likelihood was that the thumping pain would return by the time that Tony woke up, but the break from it was nice enough.

Tony was still holding the glass that had contained scotch not too long ago when he reached his bedroom. Why hadn't he put it down? He had no idea. He just kind of stood there for a second, looking at it before opening his door and walking into his room. The whole thing seemed like proof that he was killing his brain, and yet he somehow didn't care. Used to it, probably.

Over time Tony had kind of reached a point where he didn't need to look around his place to know where he was going. You know, more or less. The whole thing kind of failed if he was drunk, but Tony hadn't actually drunk very much. He was actually kind of proud of that, although he of course hadn't drunk much only by _his _standards. Other people would probably be far worse off than he was if they had consumed the amount of alcohol that he had. Was that a bad thing or a good?

Tony put his glass down without looking up at his room, or in the direction of his bed. He just kind of dumped it on a surface, not really registering which one. He really wasn't taking in anything around him, which is why (for just a moment, Tony would later swear) the sound of somebody speaking scared him shitless.

"Hello, Man of Iron."

Tony jumped and spun around on the spot to see the source of the voice, though he recognised it anyway. It was the voice of someone who had, you know, aided the attack of a whole load of aliens on the city, and the voice of someone who probably shouldn't have been free to be popping into people's bedrooms in the middle of the night.

Fucking Loki was sitting on Tony's bed. His legs were crossed, his fingers were pressed together a little below his face and he was wearing a smirk that Tony didn't think could be a good thing.

"Shit!" Tony let out, probably to Loki's amusement. "JARVIS!"

Seriously, why hadn't JARVIS warned him that Loki was there? Did JARVIS think that Loki wasn't a threat? Because if he did, then that was totally a problem. Or not, actually. It probably wouldn't do Tony any good to doubt his undeniable genius, right?

"_Sorry_," came the voice of JARVIS. "_Shall I alert the others, sir?_"

Tony thought about that for a second. If JARVIS hadn't said that Loki was there, then it meant that there was no threat. Right? JARVIS was supposed to alert people to any threat as soon as it was detectable. And if there had been no warning, then JARVIS didn't see anything to worry about. Tony had no idea _why_, but distrusting JARVIS was kind of like distrusting himself.

Also, if Tony everyone in the building was alerted to the fact that Loki was here and got into fight mode then Tony probably wouldn't find out why he was here in the first place. And there would be Avengers storming into his room who would probably still be in the stuff they had gone to sleep in, which would be kind of gross to look at, however childish that sounded.

"No," Tony said finally. "I don't want a bunch of Avengers in their sleepwear bursting into my room."

"_Very well, sir_," JARVIS said with that tone Pepper frequently adopted. Why had Tony given his AI such an attitude?

Loki was looking very amused at this entire thing, and his smirk sent the level on Tony's uncomfortable-ohmmeter through the roof.

"I must say, Stark. You're priorities seem rather warped," Loki said, tongue curling delicately around the words.

"Yeah, yeah, and you're a saint," Tony muttered, half of his mind yelling at him for letting Loki just sit there. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Hell, as it turns out," Loki drawled carelessly, uncrossing his legs and placing his feet on the floor. "But not the one that you are familiar with."

"What?" Tony asked, bemused. He suddenly kind of forgot that this situation was probably not one that he should be allowing himself to be in and just focused on the actual conversation.

"I don't have time to explain the concept of Hell to a man who believes that he is going there, Stark, because you'll find out about it for yourself one day," Loki stated.

Tony decided to ignore how meaningful that was because hey, it was Loki speaking and that was how he worked.

"I'm here strictly on business," Loki finished simply, and Tony blinked in surprise.

"At three in the morning?" Tony demanded. "In my bed?"

"I think you will find that I am _on_ your bed," Loki drawled, "but other than that you are correct."

"I don't like how much you're enjoying this," said Tony with a frown, because he really didn't. Loki's smirk itself was probably an evil genius of its own.

"Really," Loki said. Not a question. "Because I don't see you calling in anybody to try and stop me from doing anything."

Tony folded his arms. "I stand by my previous statement."

"As well you should."

"I'm getting mixed messages here."

"There is no reason why you should be," Loki told Tony, and another frown occurred. Loki really made no sense.

"Why's that?" Tony asked.

"Stark," Loki said, his tone becoming more like a warning, "I think that you are delaying the inevitable."

"Fine, fine." Tony sighed, with no idea what his thoughts were doing. "What is it that you want?"

Man would he regret asking that.

"Aid," Loki said like it was simple enough.

Tony frowned. Had Loki just said that he had come to Tony (at three in the morning) because he needed help? Because that was definitely what it had sounded like to Tony. Why did Loki need help in the first place? Was it because he was hiding from Odin and the others in Asgard? He could easily been doing that. Thor hadn't really wanted to lay on the details about what had happened to Loki as punishment, and as far as Tony could see no punishment had happened.

If Loki was on the run, Tony sure as hell wasn't going to help him with that. Even if he did think that it would be a good idea to help Loki out with that kind of thing, it really wasn't his place to get involved with Asgard's shit. Even Tony had some sense of kind of thing.

"Did you just say you need 'aid'?" Tony asked, having no real better idea of what to say.

Loki stood up, in one smooth movement, and took a few steps in Tony's direction. Why did everybody have to be taller than him? Tony hated that.

"You think that I'm going to help you?" Tony asked, his voice a little deeper than intended.

"I think that it would be in your best interests if you did," Loki said, very quietly. Crap.

"Are you being serious right now?" Tony demanded, deciding to act like the manly man he knew he was really. You know, in comparison to Coulson and not, like, Thor.

"I'm not finding this particularly funny," Loki informed Tony. "And if you are then you really have consumed a rather ridiculous amount of alcohol."

Tony said nothing to that. What was he supposed to say? It was past three o'clock in the morning, he hadn't slept for he didn't know how many hours and he _had _been drinking, whether he thought that he was being really badly affected by it or not.

"Stark," Loki said suddenly, folding his arms. "You must be aware of the fact that it is in my best interests to remain … low profile, I should say."

"Yeah," Tony agreed, just deciding to go along with what Loki was saying. "Aren't you, like, supposed to be at the hands of the Æsir or whatever? If Thor's anything to go by then Odin's kinda fond of potentially long-term punishment."

Loki nodded and said, "My sentence would not be death, but it would have been lifelong if Odin had been left to get angry at me for too long. And he thought that he would have that time. Odin has rather a habit of underestimating me."

"I'm sure he does."

That had kind of hit Tony hard. He kind of related to that father issues thing. And it was highly likely that Loki knew that, and also very likely that he had used that to gain Tony's sympathy, but it didn't mean that it didn't work.

"If I am quiet for long enough then I will likely be forgotten about," Loki continued. "In time Odin will be convinced, probably by my mother that he has done enough to me for now and leave me alone. But that could be a long time coming, and so for a while I have to avoid doing anything that will make anybody angry."

Tony thought for a second. It was a big thing with Loki that he didn't consider Thor and Odin family, right? But Loki had definitely just used the word mother. Tony thought for another moment, and then decided that it would probably be better not to mention that at all. Like, ever. He valued his insides being, you know, inside.

"Can I assume that you're gonna give up on the whole 'in hiding' thing when you get bored?" Tony asked, kind of worried again.

"Perhaps," Loki said in response, and by the way he looked Tony would have bet anything that he knew exactly what had just gone through his mind. "In fact, quite possibly. I am not as irresponsible as you make yourself out to be, but I am not immune to boredom."

"Is _that _why you chose to come here at three in the morning instead of during the day? Because you could have done that, you know. Come during the day. It'd have been more polite."

"Stark." Loki's tone had become firm. "Be quiet."

Tony just nodded once, and didn't say anything.

"It is the case at the moment that my magic is uncomfortably weak," Loki started. "And as such my abilities are rather limited. I cannot be landed with responsibilities such as the one that has been thrust upon me."

"Huh?"

Tony had absolutely no idea what that meant. What responsibility could Loki have been given? Wasn't he, like, a little villain in hiding? How villainous_ were _villains when they were in hiding? Maybe Loki should have gone to somebody who understood psychology better, if Loki was able to find somebody else who wouldn't alert the Avengers to the presence of a super criminal in their bedroom at three o'clock in the morning who had an AI that decided that an obvious possible threat wasn't actually a threat.

"With mention of my responsibility we finally reach my real reason for being here," Loki drawled. He rolled his head a little, stretching his neck. "You do enjoy engaging people in pointless banter, don't you?"

"I think that's your fault this time," Tony said. The whole standing his ground thing was necessary, he thought. "You rambled."

Loki said nothing. He just looked at Tony, arms folded and eyebrow just _slightly _raised. Tony looked down, a little feeling like a scolded child.

"Carry on," Tony muttered. What the hell was _with _him at the moment?

Loki took another step forwards, looking at Tony with eyes that were somehow magically sharp and yet painfully gentle at the same time. Tony decided not to move away from him, because then he would bump into something and look like an idiot. He had literally no idea what was wrong with him, because Loki hadn't made things quite this unnerving last time he had spoken to Tony. Why hadn't he told JARVIS to bring the others in again?

Loki cocked his head a little, and reached into his pocket. Tony forgot about his worries, suddenly fascinated. Stupid Tony. Tony hated that guy!

What Loki drew out of his pocket was a necklace of all things. Two bits of silver were curled around each other, being held by a gold and silver chain. One of the curled bits of silver was lined with tiny blue jewels.

"That's nice," Tony said, feeling a little better than before. "Really pretty. Don't know if it's really your style, but maybe you could pull it off with the right outfit."

"Stark," Loki muttered darkly. "I take it that would be stupid of me to assume that you know exactly what this is?"

Oh. Thank God Loki had ignored Tony's comment. That had been dumb. He wasn't particularly proud if that.

"Well, it's a necklace," Tony said in answer to Loki's question, "but I can't go for the points on detail."

Loki smiled and took a few steps backwards, away from Tony. And he didn't hit anything like Tony probably would have done. With a few movements of his hand he had the gold and silver chain wrapped elegantly around it, the silver curls hanging delicately from the back of his hand.

"This necklace was given to me," Loki explained, though vaguely. "But it is not a good idea for me to have it in my possession."

Tony frowned at that. He was once again confused and had no idea where the conversation was going. Or where it had started.

"So why was it given to you?" Tony asked. Yes, of all the possible questions that was the one that came to Tony, and Tony hated Tony again.

"Because options are running thin," Loki said to answer Tony's question. "If this necklace is in the possession of its true owner then it can be used for many things, but by itself it can merely do what it does automatically."

Tony cocked his head and asked, "Which is what, exactly?"

"Unimportant," stated Loki. He wasn't great at the whole clarity thing, was he? "But it would be much better for this planet if it weren't in my hands."

That got Tony. Had Loki just said something that kinda sort of a little bit sounded like he cared for Earth's wellbeing? Because that was what it had sounded that to Tony. Although Tony's occasional selective hearing problem had been pointed out to him before. Maybe Tony was just hearing things.

"Wait," Tony said slowly, without his brain's permission. "Did you just imply that you actually kinda care a little but about this planet?"

Loki's eyebrow raised just slightly as he looked at Tony with hard eyes. They were like walls, Tony thought. Green walls. Evil green walls. Tony needed to stop thinking.

"What would be the point of allowing this planet to fall if I were not the one who gained control of it afterwards?" Loki asked sweetly, a smile curling onto one side of his mouth.

"Mm." Tony nodded. Kinda made sense. For an evil mind.

There was a moment of silent that seemed to last too long then. Tony just looked at Loki as he stood there, eyebrows slightly raised as he watched Tony watching him. There was probably some subtext there that would have told Tony what Loki was thinking, but Tony was too tired to read it. Surely a guy who had been raised as a prince would have better manners than to come into a guy's room in the middle of the night and talk about necklaces and shit.

"Stark," uttered Loki suddenly. "I need you to take this necklace."

Tony blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

Loki sighed, and with more stupidly elegant movements of his hand (not that Tony was jealous or anything) he allowed the necklace to slip off his hand and onto Tony's bed. Tony watched it as the blue jewels flashed weakly for a moment before returning to their original state. Of course. Magic necklace. Probably evil magic necklace. Was blue a recurring theme here?

"The acquaintance of mine who wishes to obtain the necklace would not use it for things that would help the human race, as far as the human race itself is concerned," Loki told Tony. "And it would be harder for him to trace its location if it lies with you."

And Tony's mind was boggled all over again then, on account of the fact that he still had no fucking idea what Loki was talking about.

"Huh?"

"Not only that," Loki continued, clearly ignoring Tony's confusion, "but he would not expect me to have given it to an Avenger. The idea will not even occur to him for a long while. And keeping the necklace out of his possession will benefit all of us."

"You know, I'm still not getting any of this," Tony said, perfectly truthfully. "What the fuck are you talking about again?"

Loki sighed and rolled his eyes. Tony was a genius, right? Why was he being made to feel like such an idiot? Pepper seemed to have a point with the whole "sleep is a good thing" movement. Figures.

"I cannot stay here all night, Stark," Loki breathed out. "I'm afraid that I do in fact have places to be."

"But—!"

"Stark."

And Tony was shushed again, like a scolded child. He felt absolutely ridiculous. Loki shouldn't have this much power, right? Especially seeing as he had claimed that he was pretty weak in the magic department at the moment. It was just ridiculous.

Loki turned away from Tony, arms crossed firmly against his chest. He would have looked like a petulant child had he not carried out the movement.

"Consider the necklace a gift." Loki's voice was close to a whisper. "Not one from me of course, but from somebody with better intentions than myself. And it would be in your best interests to keep the necklace a secret. You will be less likely to be found if you keep the fact that you have the necklace to yourself."

"And I don't want to be found?"

"You don't want to be found."

And Tony was going to say something else, because Loki had raised a ridiculous amount of questions by just _being _in Tony's room, never mind all that talk about escaping, magic and necklaces that were probably evil. But Tony couldn't say anymore, because as soon as he opened his mouth Loki vanished. He was just gone. And Tony may or may not have been surprised by that. But he was too tired to be able to tell.

"What the fuck?" was all he managed before he rubbed his hands over his face.

"_Sir,_" came the voice of JARVIS suddenly, "_that necklace is giving off an unsafe amount of heat. I believe that it could cause some substantial damage if it is not moved._"

Tony looked to the necklace, and saw that it had gone a faint red colour, and there was what appeared to be smoke coming off it. Of course, it was all magic or whatever.

"Shit!"

Tony moved over to his bed quickly and snatched up the necklace. But it didn't feel hot on his hands at all. In fact it felt quite cold. Not too cold, but not massively comfortable. A look to the bed told Tony that no mark had been left by the necklace at all. Again, magic. Whatever.

"_The necklace is now a safe temperature, sir,_" Tony was informed.

"Yeah, JARVIS. Thanks for that."

"_I exist to serve, sir._"

"Don't be cute," muttered Tony. "You're not cute."

"_If you have any problem with me, sir, you should blame none but yourself._"

Tony gave up on that whole conversation and looked to the necklace as it sat in his hand. He wasn't sure, but it looked almost like the colours on the necklace were now cooler than they had been when Loki was holding it. Though maybe he was just imagining things.

Tony moved to the bedside table and just shoved the necklace in the drawer. What the hell else was he supposed to do with it at that moment? He had no idea how serious Loki was being when he gave Tony all those little dramatic warnings (like he cared about Tony anyway) and how was one meant to hide a magic necklace anyway? Tony had no time to care about that.

Well, Tony was now ten times more exhausted than he had been before he entered the room. He didn't even really have the energy to undress. He just kind of fell onto his bed, and was asleep almost instantly.

x-x-x

_Laufeyson,_

_I gave you that necklace for a reason. It's important to keep him in the dark about the whole truth, okay? I hope that you don't make any stupid decisions that get us both killed._

_There's no longer any reading on the necklace. I hope you didn't do anything too idiotic getting rid of it. There are some people you could give it to that would serve us better dead, but you need to be careful. As do I. I've got my eye on him as he searches for his precious necklace._

_Watch yourself, Laufeyson. Don't get killed when you worked so hard to get out of Asgard before they could finish the whole punishment thing. I'm not your biggest fan, but you're no good to me dead. Or without any power. Just keep both your eyes open. And maybe a few other people's. Whatever works, alright?_

_A.G._

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**I had a ****_massive_**** argument with this chapter. Especially the beginning. I had about one gram of angst feels and ended up getting them out. I don't do angst as well as I wish I could.**

**And I want to thank OperationBlackSheep for making me want to write Avengers fan fic in the first place and AnyRandomBookFandom for putting up with me talking at her about this so muchy. I ****_really_**** appreciate all of that.**

**Dainty xx**


	2. Headache

**Hey guys! Basically, this chapter was not at all meant to take as long as it did. It was about halfway done and then I had exam work, illness and chronic laziness to contend with so this story kind of took a backseat. Sorry. But enough with the excuses, eh?**

**Chapter warnings: Swearing, violent necklaces and minor JARVIS banter. I'm pretty sure that covers it.**

**Happy reading!**

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**2. Headache**

X-X-X

_Laufeyson,_

_Congrats on getting the necklace to that Stark guy. Really. I was worried for a second that you'd give it to an idiot. Oh wait, you did. Well done._

_I'm just a little concerned, Laufeyson, because as there seem to be some weird fluxes in the necklace's readings. Would you do me a favour and do something about that? I don't want anybody to get hurt. Much._

_A.G._

x-x-x

When Tony awoke, fully clothed and a mere few hours after falling asleep, his headache had indeed returned. It started at the top of his head as this buzzing, thumping pain that seemed to flow downwards until it focused on a spot behind his right eye. It felt like a rat was chewing on his optic nerve.

Tony took in a breath, long and deep, and began rubbing his screaming temples with his fingers. He thought it funny that despite all this undeniable evidence pointing to the fact that his drinking habits were phenomenally stupid, he still went about with them like he had never felt the pain of a hangover. For a genius Tony was pretty fucking stupid, and he knew it.

Gingerly, Tony sat up. Every single muscle in his body howled in protest, but he ignored the feeling of nausea within himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He clenched his jaw as his head started burning. His thoughts were a mess, like they were swimming in some kind of acid that was rapidly flooding his skull. Tony could remember feeling a lot of pain over the course of many hangovers during his life but he couldn't recall feeling like this for quite a while. This was something new.

Tony couldn't for the life of him think why he should feel worse now than he had in such a long time. Was something different about this time? He could certainly have had plenty more to drink the previous night, so … Wait.

Dimly, something about the early hours of the morning returned to Tony. He had come up to his room to actually get some sleep, and he hadn't been alone. Of course.

Loki. Loki and that fucking necklace.

Tony coughed suddenly, and it felt like shards of glass were flying around in his throat. He clenched his jaw to try and bear the pain and did his very best to actually think. When Loki had left the necklace Tony hadn't known what to do with it, so he had just flung it somewhere. So typical of Past Tony to leave Future Tony to deal with shit.

It felt like an age before Tony's thoughts finally gathered themselves and he was able to remember that he'd put the necklace in the drawer of the bedside table. If this kind of thing didn't happen all the time then he would be really worried about himself. Man was he gonna get bitched at later.

Ignoring his muscles as they screamed in protest, Tony reached forwards and opened the drawer. A blinding white light shot out and all but blinded him, and he snapped his eyes shut as he was forced backwards over the bed by the force of the flash.

Tony crashed inelegantly to the floor and his head began hurting all over again. He groaned and swore under his breath, slowly trying to pick himself up. The effort was close to futile, though. That much he could tell.

What the hell had that been?

"_Are you alright, sir?_" Tony heard JARVIS ask after a moment.

"Gee, I'm swell," Tony muttered against the side of his bed, his voice a little muffled. "Thanks for asking."

"_There is no need for sarcasm, sir_," said JARVIS.

Tony managed to pull himself up then and sat down on his bed. Almost every inch of his body hurt like all hell, and he knew that he was going to spend a pretty substantial amount of time that he didn't feel anything. That was just what he did, right?

"You know, JARVIS," Tony started, "when someone's in the position I was just in then there's every need for sarcasm. It's a thing."

"_Would you prefer that I do not ask in future, then?_" JARVIS asked innocently. "_I was just concerned, as you did just throw yourself across the room for no reason I can determine_."

Tony blinked. Throw himself across the room? Had JARVIS been paying attention to what had just happened? Because Tony was pretty sure that what had just happened was pretty simple. Apparently magic white light equalled massive pain. Was that always the case?

"JARVIS, what the fuck?" demanded Tony. "Did you not see the whole blinding white light thing?"

"_No, sir, I did not_," JARVIS stated, and then: "_Are you okay?_"

"Not in the least," Tony said flatly. "I'm officially hurting in places I didn't know I had places."

"_That's unfortunate, sir_." Why did JARVIS have to be so good at sarcasm? Hadn't Tony just been told off for using it?

There was a time when JARVIS would have done something like advise Tony against the consumption of alcohol, but that was clearly now just a pointless endeavour. Tony just decided to shrug the whole light thing off and forget about it. He was totally, completely and undeniably responsible like that. Totally.

Tony took a deep breath, stood up and, making a point to be as far from any furniture as he could manage, walked back over to the shelf and that fucking necklace. The drawer hadn't moved an inch. Huh. So the blast really had just effected Tony and nothing else. Well wasn't that fucking interesting?

The necklace was right there. Tony could see it resting on top of a couple of pieces of paper from documents that he had no recollection of. But it was kind of … Well, it seemed to be phasing in and out of existence. Like, one minute Tony could see it and the next it had kinda turned invisible. What the...?

Because he was smart like that, Tony reached down and picked up. It felt kind of warm against his skin, and he was reminded of how it had gotten really hot just after Loki had left it. Tony legitimately had no idea as to what he was supposed to think of this crap anymore. You know, because he had totally known what was going on at first.

Tony sighed, dropped the necklace back into the drawer and decided to go and do something constructive. Or as constructive as somebody who had a hangover and ached all over could get.

Wow, this was already shitloads of fun.

x-x-x

It was a room like every other in the building. Metal walls, metal floors, and metal everything else. A small workbench was sitting in the corner, and above it was a small screen monitoring something. Few would recognise what it was that the monitor was keeping track of.

Only a few minutes previously there had been a massive spike in the readings, which for hours had shown little more than minor buzzes. One person with large, painfully blue eyes had been staring at those screens with rapt attention for a very, very long time.

"Well, Laufeyson," said the owner of the eyes, "it would seem that we've had small a fluctuation."

From a corner on the other side of the room, Loki looked up. The person sitting by the screen had spun their swivel chair around and was looking at him intently. There was a glimmer surrounding them at that moment that made them seem blurry, out of focus. In all honesty Loki knew that it had just been put on to make him uncomfortable. That kind of thing happened frequently within these walls. Loki didn't like it one bit.

"I'm sure that you'll look into that," the person whispered. "Don't disappoint me, yeah?"

Loki felt his jaw clench in response. If his magic wasn't so weak, and hadn't been twisted by _them_, then he wouldn't have to put up with this. But as things stood he couldn't do anything without permission from that awful excuse for a creature, and if he failed to put up with them and they abandoned him then he would never succeed in his goals.

The god made sure to say nothing as he stood up and left the room. He could feel the person's gaze on his back as he left, like it was burning his skin. And he knew it was petty, ridiculous and all manner of other things but Loki tried to avoid carrying out his - there was no other word for it - _orders _while in their presence whenever possible. They never saw him vanish.

Loki could hardly bare to identify exactly what had happened that had caused him to fall so low. But what did it matter anyway?

x-x-x

Two hours, some ineffective painkillers and a shower after getting up, Tony was standing in his workshop by one of the benches. And as far as his tired brain could tell he had accomplished basically nothing in the time he had been there. On the workbench in front of him was a part of his suit. It was a part that he had decided to make a few improvements to not too long ago, but he had just been staring at the thing for the longest time.

So as it turned out, Tony had become completely incapable of thinking about the kind of stuff that used to come to him naturally. It was like George Lucas and the _Star Wars _prequel trilogy, but he didn't want to sell his suit to Disney. He hadn't gotten _that _drunk. And Tony was also pretty happy to be going on with the idea that this whole inability to accomplish anything was temporary and would go away with his headache and everything else.

Tony's thoughts had of course moved to the necklace pretty quickly. What he definitely wouldn't say was that he was getting anywhere with any of it. What was he supposed to think?

He could now remember perfectly clearly what had happened, but that hardly helped. What was he supposed to make of what Loki had told him? The guy had said that he was in hiding, but that he had somehow been dealt with the responsibility of the necklace and everything. And then he had left Tony the necklace, because apparently that was how his mind worked.

Tony was pretty sure that Loki had been pretty serious about the necklace, because what would be the point of blowing Tony across the room like that? Especially seeing as he wouldn't there to see the event, which Tony was willing to bet looked pretty damn hilarious.

Yes, Tony was trying to convince himself that the necklace thing was more than a prank. No, he didn't know whether it being a prank would be better or worse. He was too tired to know much at all.

With what felt like the billionth sigh of the day, Tony gave up on the whole thinking thing and hopped up to sit on the only empty part of the workbench. And for a moment he just sat there, breathing deeply and making mental notes that involved reminders to buy better painkillers.

"_Sir_," said JARVIS suddenly, "_Doctor Banner is approaching._"

"Good for him." Tony's voice was hard, tired and barely audible. But thankfully JARVIS spoke Tony, and just let Bruce in.

One look at Bruce's face was enough to confirm the confirmation of the fact that Tony looked pretty bad. Or worse. Tony had grown kind of afraid of his mirror over the years so it could be pretty difficult to tell.

Bruce walked across half the distance between the door and Tony, that obvious look of worry on his face. He looked an awful lot like he wanted to say something, but words seemed to be failing him. That didn't matter though. Tony may not have been great at the whole friendship thing, but he wasn't entirely ignorant. He knew what Bruce was thinking.

"Sup, Bruce?" Tony greeted. "In answer to your question, I feel like shit. Thanks for worrying."

Bruce let out sigh billion and one of the day. And it was a good one, all full of exasperation and everything else Tony's friends constantly experienced. Tony would have felt kinda bad if he had the energy to experience that on top of everything else. Besides, Bruce probably felt that a lot of the time, and Tony reckoned that he could handle it.

Bruce took a few more steps towards Tony, folding his arms. Once again he looked like he was trying to find something to say, but this time it was apparent that he had no idea what it was going to be. Man, did Tony know that feeling. Except Tony's mouth would do the work his brain wouldn't so he would end up speaking anyway.

"Tony," said Bruce eventually. "You know... No, it doesn't matter. Nothing's gonna get through to you."

Tony just shrugged and looked down. He honestly didn't know what he was supposed to do with this situation. Anything he would say would deteriorate into babbling, and Bruce would just get pissed off. Though Bruce probably wouldn't be massively happy if Tony didn't say anything, so he really couldn't win.

Story of Tony's fucking life.

"Did you want something?" Tony found himself asking. Damn. That had sounded a little too sharp.

Bruce looked away for a second, unsure. Tony didn't blame him for being uncomfortable. Tony was uncomfortable. And he wasn't even the one with an irresponsible, hung-over douche snapping at him.

"Actually, no," Bruce informed his friend. "But Pepper does."

Tony blinked. "Huh?"

For the tiniest of moments, Tony was pretty sure that he saw Bruce smile. But the expression vanished as quickly as it had come, so Tony was left kinda confused. He had to admit that of all the people Tony knew, Bruce always seemed to be one of the harder ones to read. Tony couldn't always put his finger on why.

"You know," Bruce started, "Pepper worries about you all the time. She's started sending us texts about you now. She says it's because she knows that you're going to lie to her."

"Seriously?"

Tony was pretty impressed by that. Pepper was certainly used to dealing with Tony, huh? She'd learned to accommodate all the crap he pulled. Tony was pretty proud of how smart she was. Way smarter than him in countless areas, he had to admit.

"I told her I'd check on you," Bruce said suddenly. "Because you probably would lie. To her."

"Yeah," Tony admitted after a moment's thought. "I probably would."

And he wasn't being entirely honest with Bruce either, was he? Wow. Tony was kind of ashamed.

"You're lucky she cares about you so much," said Bruce. "Plenty of people aren't this caring after they've broken up with someone."

Tony said nothing to that. He didn't need to. If he was honest, he figured not being the bantering and babbling Tony for a little while was probably the best thing given the situation. Steve was usually the one who did the lecturing, so if Bruce was doing it being careful was a good idea. Probably.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what's up with you," Bruce continued, "but I'm pretty sure I can guess. See you later, Tony."

"Yeah," was all Tony could say as Bruce turned to leave.

Bruce was definitely a little pissed off with Tony. Or a lot, maybe. That whole 'always angry' thing must be really grating, and Tony felt bad for adding to it.

Obviously Bruce thought that Tony looking so crappy was due to his stupidity and alcoholism. But that was only half true. Tony hoped. He was almost entirely sure that the alcohol wasn't the only factor at play here. It seemed that the necklace had kinda fucked him up a bit.

Suddenly, there was a stab of pain in Tony's head. He swore and doubled over where he sat, clasping the sides of his head with his hands. Damn, that had hurt. And Tony had a feeling that that was gonna happen a bunch of times before this whole deal was over. If it ever _was _over.

"Thank you, Loki," Tony said aloud as he sat up again. "I really needed you to follow up on the whole window thing."

"Now, Stark," came that all too familiar voice. "I think that your suicidal stunt was follow up enough."

Of course Loki would show up just in time to hear Tony speak. Had he somehow known that Bruce had left? Because it would definitely not have been good for Loki if he had appeared while another Avenger had been in the room. Tony honestly had no idea how the hell all that crap was meant to work. And thinking about it wasn't helping his headache either, so he just gave up.

"_Sir, you don't seem to have commented on my failure to alert you to Mister Laufeyson's presence_," said JARVIS.

"That's because I'm not surprised," Tony muttered, feeling somehow like he shouldn't be saying anything while Loki was standing behind him. "My A.I. is a douche."

And Tony was pretty sure that he heard a small laugh from Loki at the comment. He didn't like it.

And wait. _Mister Laufeyson? _That way of referring to Loki was actually creepy, for some reason. And creepy on many, many levels at that.

From behind him, Tony heard the sound of Loki's footsteps as the god walked into his line of sight. Tony felt himself tilting his head a little as he looked at Loki, who wasn't dressed like, you know, _Loki_. He was just wearing a green shirt, black trousers (that were kind of a little bit tight) and perfectly not at all alien looking boots. It was close to unnerving, but that effect was kind of nullified by pretty much everything else that was happening right then.

When Loki stopped walking, he looked at Tony with a pretty much unreadable expression. His hands were clasped behind his back, and one eyebrow was quirked in a way that told Tony that he was expected to say something.

So Tony clicked his tongue and said, "Afternoon. You doing okay?"

Because honestly what the hell else was he supposed to say? His head hurt far too much for his usual banter and everything. Tony didn't even know if he'd be able to do anything to defend himself if Loki decided to go all murder-y all of a sudden. So it was a good thing he had JARVIS, who would probably start taking the Loki thing seriously if Tony was being strangled or something. Hopefully, anyway.

"Stark, have your thoughts reached the point of babbling?" Loki questioned suddenly, and Tony realised that he had just been sitting there saying nothing for a stupid amount of time.

"Uh, yeah," Tony admitted. "Turns out that doesn't just happen when I talk."

"Indeed."

Tony clicked his tongue again, watching Loki and waiting for him to say something. He was pretty certain that Loki was just staying silent because he was enjoying making Tony uncomfortable. But there was nothing new about that, eh?

Eventually, Loki spoke.

"Stark, I trust that you're having no trouble recollecting the necklace that I gave to you last night?"

"Well, a god appearing in your room at three in the morning and giving you jewellery isn't something you easily forget," Tony said. And upon noticing the seriousness of Loki's expression: "Is there some reason why I would've?"

Loki nodded. "Quite possibly. It seems like the kind of thing the necklace would enjoy doing."

Tony said nothing to that. Had Loki just said that the necklace would _enjoy _doing something? This was seriously just weird as hell. That was for sure.

"Okay," Tony said, thinking about what Loki had just said, "what the hell is that necklace you gave me and how deep is the shit I'm in."

Loki smiled, folded his arms across his chest and said, "I must say, Stark. I am glad that you are so intrigued about the necklace."

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Loki breathed out, thoughtful. "It is just that if you were not so intrigued about the necklace, and indeed I myself and what I am doing with it then this would be far more difficult than it always is."

"Is this shit going anywhere?" Tony demanded.

"Not anywhere in particular," Loki said in response. "I am merely trying to get you to think, but it seems that you are incapable of that."

Tony clenched his jaw. That was a far from subtle way of trying to get to Tony, and kind of didn't seem like a very Loki style jab. It was almost… too blunt. But Tony didn't want to think about that. He honestly just didn't have the energy for Loki's shit.

Loki seemed to be aware of how Tony was feeling, and it almost seemed that he cared. That much seemed evident from Loki's expression, as far as Tony could tell. That and he then chose to actually give Tony some answers. About time.

"The necklace, Stark, does in fact have a name," Loki started. "It is Latra. Comes from a Latin word, in fact. Charming language."

"Uh huh."

Loki swallowed, and continued with: "Latra, as I believe I told you, belongs to a less that charming acquaintance of mine."

Tony decided to avoid rolling his eyes. "Of course you stole the necklace. How did I ever think that you didn't steal the necklace?"

"I did not _steal _Latra," Loki said, rather defensively. "I could have done, but I did not. It was given to me, and I maintain that it was in the best interest of everyone that I did not return it to the owner."

Tony took a breath and said, "And you had to give it to me?"

"Well, I could not keep it," Loki explained, "and you seemed to me to be the perfect candidate."

"Really?" Tony asked. He had to admit that he was genuinely surprised that Loki had said that.

"But of course," said Loki. "And as I said, you are intrigued enough by the situation not to tell your allies of it, because that would hinder you from discovering things in the way that you want to. Am I not correct?"

Tony thought about that for a second, and decided just to be honest. What good would lying do? And telling the truth was less trouble for his still panging headache.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good," said Loki quietly. "Now, on to the subject of your little accident this morning."

Ah, Tony had been wondering when that was going to come up. Because of _course _Loki knew about what had happened earlier that day. And also, _little accident_? That was a pretty shitty way of putting that. As it stood Tony was in quite a lot of freaking pain, thank you very much.

"Stark, Latra was feeling threatened."

Tony tried to think of a response to that, but his mind came up on yet another blank. Maybe it would just be best to let Loki explain all this shit, even though it'd still probably make about no sense anyway.

Loki gave Tony a look that made him feel like the god had read his malfunctioning mind before continuing with a slightly… taxed look.

"Latra was worried that you were going to damage her in some way, and so threw you across the room. A little sloppy, by her standards, but as it worked I can't really fault her."

Tony decided to skip over the fact that Loki was still talking about the necklace like it was a living thing and asked, "So how'd you know about that anyway? JARVIS said it just looked like I'd thrown myself across the room."

Yep, Tony had made this decision to just ask questions and go along with this whole thing like it wasn't completely fucking ridiculous.

"To anything viewing it would appear like you had inflicted that rather absurd collision upon yourself," explained Loki. "Latra is trying to remain hidden, after all."

"Uh huh," was Tony's response. "Makes some kinda sense, I guess. For necklace logic, anyway."

"_Sir_," came the voice of JARVIS suddenly, "_I'm afraid that I must maintain that you did just appear to throw yourself across the room for no determinable reason_."

"Yeah," said Tony. "Thanks for that, buddy."

Loki raised his eyebrow again, just ever so slightly. Tony probably would've done too, if he had to listen to the exchanges that he had with the A.I.

Loki was looking at Tony like he was expecting him to say something, and for a second Tony tried searching through his buzzing head to think what it was. Then it hit him. The answer Loki had given him hadn't actually been the one to the question Tony had asked. Tony had asked how Loki had known about the necklace's little, uh, outburst.

"So go on then," Tony prompted. "You know the question already, right?"

Loki looked down for a second, seemingly deep in thought. Tony found himself following the god's gaze like that was somehow a useful thing to do. What was the point in trying to figure out any of these actions by this point anyway?

"Stark," Loki said suddenly, knocking Tony out of the daze he had no idea he had been in.

"Huh?"

_Oh,_ that _noise again_, Tony's brain complained._ Good one, Tony._

Fuck, why did it matter anyway?

"There is a great deal I cannot tell you."

Of course. Wasn't Loki known for his lies? Because avoiding the question when you're known for fabricating is just blatant laziness. Like Tony wasn't even worth the effort.

Okay, few people's egos were so big that they would be offended because of something like this. Tony deserved a fucking medal or something, he was sure.

But seriously, how had Loki known anyway? Because in all honesty it was kinda disturbing. Not that other stuff about Loki wasn't creepy as all hell, but it was important to focus on the matter at hand, right?

Ugh! What the _hell _was his mind doing?

"So, Prancer," Tony started, "let me see if I've got this right. You give me a necklace in the middle of the night, tell me it's all magical and shit and then when it throws me across the room you'll tell me why but not how you knew it did so?"

"I answered your other questions, did I not?" asked Loki, looking innocent. Or innocent for him, anyway.

"So I'm just supposed to trust you on this one, am I?"

Loki smiled. "Not at all."

Tony took a breath and said, "My head hurts too much for this shit."

_I think he's got that now_, Tony's mind informed him. _Shut up, yeah?_

"Stark," Loki began, "as I said, that unfortunate headache of yours will be fleeting, related to an excessive number of other things. In addition, your head will most likely feel clearer after the pain goes away than it has in a long while."

Tony just blinked in response. What the hell was Loki talking about?

Without warning, Loki looked up then like he had heard something. Tony frowned and listened too, but he couldn't pick anything specific out through the buzzing that was ringing through his skull. Was this just something Loki did? Because it was kind of freaking Tony out a little bit. Then, just because he needed to, Tony blinked.

Loki had vanished when his eyes opened again. Yeah, Tony was aware that that was something that Loki did.

Tony rubbed his eyes and hopped off the bench. The movement was somewhat jagged, as half his muscles felt like they had turned to stone or something. Why was Tony not surprised? He popped his knuckles and gave his muscles a moment to calm down before doing anything else.

Because being in the workshop had started to feel a little weird (for not entirely unidentifiable reasons) Tony decided to just leave and go elsewhere. He didn't feel like having to speak to anybody at that point, though, so something else was in order.

And of course, Tony couldn't help but think about the conversation that he'd just had with the good old god of mischief, or whatever he was god of. That was another area of knowledge that Tony's brain seemed to be clouding over as the man searched his thoughts.

He guessed that it was good that Loki had given him so many answers, because he could totally see the guy neglecting to do that. But Loki had also told Tony not to tell any of the other Avengers about the necklace, so had behaving all civil and answering Tony's questions been kind of a way of stopping Tony from going to anyone else? And he had neglected to answer that one question, so … Huh.

Loki had planned that pretty well, huh? He had given Tony quite a few answers and missed off just enough information. Probably. Ugh, Tony's headache wasn't going to get any better if he kept trying to anaslyse what Loki's mind was doing. With the pain in his head happening he barely knew what his own mind was doing.

Tony just knew that he wasn't going to go to the others about the necklace. _Latra_. And at that moment Tony couldn't quite put his finger on why, but it seemed like a not entirely awful idea.

Actually, Loki had said something about Tony being intrigued because of the necklace. And when Tony thought about whether or not that was a big reason for him wanting to keep quiet about the whole thing, he had to conclude that it was. It just seemed to him like it would be better to handle this situation without S.H.I.E.L.D. stomping all over the place. Yeah, that made sense.

Also, Tony couldn't help but be fascinated by the god that seemed to come as a packaged deal with the whole necklace thing. Maybe he'd be able to think about why that was when his brain didn't feel like it was going to burst.

x-x-x

As it was, Loki was sitting in a far from desirable room. He was on a hard, lumpy bed with his head resting against the cold metal that made up almost everything in the sparsely furnished place. He kept his eyes most decidedly closed as he thought about the actions that would have to follow what he had already done.

Loki could, of course, still feel that strong hold over him that had made him want to faint right there in Stark's workshop. He could feel his magic shifting awkwardly as he tried to compose his thoughts. It was the same uncomfortable kind of shift in his power that had called him back to this dingy, cursed room in the first place. And the process always made him feel awful.

The other person that Loki knew was somewhere else in the same building had not bothered to say anything to him since the god's return, and Loki couldn't help but be thankful for that. What he needed as he sat there was peace, and that was it. He wouldn't have been able to face that person if he had wanted to.

There was some twisted kind of desire within Loki that made him want to laugh at his own pitiful situation. There was an old, long forgotten Loki out there in the ether somewhere that would never have fallen prey to such a mind as … _theirs_.

Pathetic.

* * *

**So as I said, this chapter took way longer than intended. I really just wanted to get it up, so if you notice any sloppiness in the writing or editing then I apologise. I feel like the last bit in Tony's workshop is kinda forced, but I'll survive.**

**And as you read this is story is after Tony and Pepper breaking up. For some reason I can find it in my heart to be cruel to all characters but Pepper, so I don't want her getting cheated on or anything. It's a thing.**

**Thanks to AnyRandomBookFandom for checking through this. Any mistakes left over are entirely my fault.**

**Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading and I hope I'll see you for Chapter Three!**


	3. Coffee

**Hey guys! Again, this chapter caused me physical anguish. I have exams this year, so I just expect me to blame everything on them. Cool.**

**Thanks, I hope you enjoy this later than intended chapter!**

* * *

**3. Coffee**

X-X-X

_Laufeyson,_

_So Latra has indeed calmed down. That gives us one less headache to worry about, sure, but there's still everything else to contend with. I'm concerned about the necklace's owner. He doesn't seem to have done much towards finding Latra. Keep that in mind, yeah?_

_I'm not sure how much longer we're going to have to go without a breakthrough. We can't keep the necklace with Stark forever, but unfortunately keeping it with him remains our only choice. With any luck that will stop being the case before Latra's owner gets too pissed off._

_A.G._

x-x-x

A week had passed since Loki had appeared in Tony's workshop, and the billionaire's headache had indeed faded away. He had been sitting on his couch, fallen asleep and when he woke up again it was gone. And with the pain's disappearance his ability to think straight had returned, and it didn't feel like his thoughts were fighting through thick mud and gags just to be heard.

This left Tony consumed with the issue of Latra (and it was _still _weird to think of a necklace having a name), and in turn Loki and what the god had to do with everything. He thought that it would be much easier to try and figure things out now that he had pretty much returned to normal, but in all honesty he couldn't. Loki really had left massive gaps when providing Tony with knowledge about Latra. Tony still had next to no idea what the hell was going on and why the hell _he _was the one who had been chosen to help deal with it. There were any number of problems with trusting Tony with this kind of things, as far as he could see, but at the same time there didn't seem to be anyone who Loki could have trusted with this more. If "trust" was the right term for this, and Tony wasn't sure that it was.

Another problem was the fact that Tony found himself just trusting the god's words and keeping Latra a secret. And he didn't know whether that was out of faith or just simply lack of choice. Maybe his mind really wasn't equipped to deal with these kinds of things after all.

Tony had started to realise after a few days that he was spending next to no time with any of his fellow Avengers. Bruce had checked on Tony a number of times, still worried about him after the conversation in the workshop. Steve had also offered Tony a few words when he must have looked a little out of it, but Tony felt like the man was doing nothing more that throwing him a bone. The Capsicle could certainly be a difficult man to read.

Tony had even received a couple of calls from Pepper. He appreciated that a lot, because she was always really busy and everything, but in the end all he could offer her were hurried lies that nobody with intelligence could believe. Lies like "I'm fine", "No, nothing's wrong" and "Of course I didn't say that to Clint!" Tony knew that his words had done nothing to console Pepper, and they may have even made the worry worse, but he couldn't think of what to say. Even with his mind functioning again, lying to Pepper was difficult. And perhaps that was a good thing?

But Tony had a lot on his mind. He would blame Loki, but things (_what _things specifically being beyond him) were telling Tony that things with Latra and were far from Loki's fault. Maybe Loki only knew a little bit more than Tony did about everything.

Though over that week, Tony's mind often moved to other things that were bugging him.

Being in the same building as his friends was something Tony was starting to find difficult. It was like he'd just stopped being sociable. Could that be some effect that Latra was having? It was certainly not something Tony liked having to deal with, whatever the reason. He'd always been pretty good at the whole being social thing, whether everybody else seemed to be looking down at him from mountainous moral high grounds or not. Before this it had been Bruce who spent the least amount of time socialising, but Tony was now spending even more time than his science bro away from the eyes of others. It didn't sit well, but it was almost like he couldn't help it.

When Saturday rolled around, Tony decided that he was just sick to death of the building he lived in with his fellow Avengers. And he was absolutely exhausted, which was a feeling that never went away. So, after Bruce shot a look at him that was worth an awkward conversation, Tony left the building to go and be somewhere completely different.

x-x-x

Sometimes Loki would think back to the past, and every time he did he wanted to be sick. There were a great many things that he regretted with a burning passion, and he far from appreciated the nausea that the memories of those things always brought along with them.

Within his mind Loki could see this very clear-cut path. He held no doubt about what had led him to where he was: a tiny room that held a hard atmosphere and no option for him other than to sit and wait. What he was waiting for, however, was a mystery. What was there to help him anymore?

Loki could not decide whether or not he was grateful that he had been found by that woman. He had never been the kind of person who would ask for help unless he was absolutely desperate, but when he had been left in the dark as a bloody and beaten mess what other choice did he have but to go with her? Despite everything that had happened to him, Loki still had a survival instinct. It was one of the few things that he still kept hold of after Odin had tried to take it away.

But what was the price for Loki's survival? In truth, things could have been much worse. If Odin hadn't been stopped before he … No. That was hardly a thought to be dwelled on. All that was important was that acting as an ally to a woman who was little more than a traitor to her people was far from the worst situation that could have occurred. She was the kind of person whom Loki should have been able to relate to, but in actuality Loki all but hated her. Her ways of manipulation were … different to his own, in many ways, and it rather put him off.

But there was definitely someone Loki was able to communicate with to which he could relate, and he found that regrettable; anticipated it being predictable. That was always the way.

Loki hadn't been given much time to think about who to give the necklace to. He had lost enough of his power already, without Latra making him more and more ill with every second she was in his possession. He supposed that he knew why he had chosen Stark, of all people. He just really wished that he did not.

Stark. Loki was indeed fascinated by the man. There was a great deal about him, perhaps an uncomfortable amount, which really intrigued him. And as far as Loki could tell, Stark seemed to have similar feelings about Loki. That happened to be incredibly interesting, and also incredibly lucky. The safe execution of the plans surrounding Latra required Stark not to tell his fellow Avengers about the necklace unless a scenario occurred in which that would be useful, and Loki felt that he would have to rely on more than Stark's apparent lack of wit in some areas for that to be so.

Loki would admit to himself that he could not see far into the future, but he had rather a clear view of what he could see nonetheless. Those notes, however, remained a problem. He found them in his tiny room often, but there was no kind of acknowledgement from anybody that they had been sent. It seemed as if the only person who could be writing them was the woman giving Loki those … instructions, but her initials did not match the ones that the sender always signed the notes with. The mystery around those slips of paper was perhaps the only reason why Loki continued to remain interested in what was written within the notes. Perhaps that was the idea?

Oh, what use were Loki's thoughts anyway? He had next to no faith in himself anymore at any rate (though that was painful to admit), so what was he to do other than lie in his tiny, looming room until he had a chance to carry out any task. When that woman had – very well – saved him, Loki certainly hadn't realised just how skillfully she would be able to bind him to her "base of operations", as she sometimes called it. She kept informing him that he wasn't a prisoner, but Loki did not believe that. The woman was able to blend magic and technology into a rather formidable mixture.

"_Laufeyson_," came that now far too familiar voice through that system that the woman always insisted on having open, "_I think I've spotted something you may want to see. _He_ would certainly want to keep it a secret._"

He. The owner of the necklace was never referred to by name. It was as if his name was poisonous in some way, and therefore should not be uttered. Though of course Loki, in what was admittedly an act of childish petulance, avoided saying or even thinking that woman's name whenever possible. Loki had been on the receiving end of that kind of thing in his time, though. He knew that it was … uncomfortable.

Loki swung his legs over the side of his hard bed and stood. He could feel that pull in his still weak magic again that meant he was being summoned. By the Nine, Loki felt like little more than a servant. And he no longer had the power to do anything about it.

Humiliating. That word was fitting.

x-x-x

There was a coffee place that Tony liked to go to on occasion, that almost seemed to hide itself from the rest of the city. It was small and modest, and while the people there always recognised who Tony was, they never made a big deal out of it. For all Tony's charismatic tendencies, the occasional break from things was really welcome. Especially with the whole evil necklace of doom thing going on.

Tony arrived at the coffee place a little after one (which wasn't _that _long after he had gotten up, because he was still Tony Stark) and ordered the same as usual from the guy behind the counter.

It was always the same guy at the counter, a man in his late twenties named Dannie who had moved over from Ireland about eight months previously, and Tony was pretty sure that he was the owner's nephew or something. He was a nice enough guy, fond of what he called his "old Irish sayings", though he had told Tony that no one in Ireland really said that stuff other than his dad. He said things like "top of the morning" a lot, just because he was in the States with that accent apparently. The coffee place _was _called Paddy's, one of the most cliché Irish names Tony knew of. (Why wasn't the place selling alcohol, to be the cherry on top?) Maybe being a clichéd Irishman was in Dannie's job description.

Also, Dannie didn't seem to Tony give a damn about who Tony was, and the narcissism in Tony (yes, _all _of it) was not happy with how much that was appreciated.

Tony's favourite seat in the place was at a small table in the corner, by a window. He would just sit there and look out at the city, though the part of it that that particular window revealed was far from pretty. Actually, that may have been one of the best things about it. Tony's world was just, well, piles and piles of expensive crap. Having something to put things in perspective every now and again was good, he supposed.

As Tony sat there trying to avoid a staring contest with his coffee, he ended up thinking about the city he lived in itself. It was almost weird to think that things had been pretty quiet there, compared to the standard of the fight Loki had brought in, and Tony wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that. There was of course that crazy Amora bitch who stirred up trouble every now and again, but she didn't seem to have any bigger plans. Tony had to wonder whether or not he should actually be worrying about the owner of Latra, the necklace, because he still didn't know very much about them.

Tony tried to stop himself from opening that particular can of thought-worms, and downed half his coffee as his eyes roamed Paddy's. There was a tired looking woman sitting at the counter and reading something without much obvious interest on an eBook reader, two teenage boys by the opposite wall having a hissed argument and young man with glasses being the cliché laptop user that every coffee place needed sitting on a sofa by another window. They had all given Tony a few would-be-subtle looks since he had entered, but it wasn't like that wasn't expected.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony noticed a man entering the place. He didn't really get a look at him before turning back to his half empty (yep, definitely half _empty_) cup of coffee and sighing. Man, was he totally without direction.

After what felt like about five or so minutes, Dannie came over and stood beside Tony. The billionaire looked up at him, smiling a little because he didn't want to have to share how he actually felt.

"Are you alright there, Tony?" Dannie asked in a friendly tone. "And keep in mind that I didn't charge you extra just 'cause you're rich, so I'm owed a proper answer."

"I'm fine," Tony said.

"No, you're not," Dannie insisted.

Tony cocked his head and said, "Seriously, Dannie. Billionaire's honour."

Dannie looked around the room before: "I don't know if you've noticed, but this place isn't the most pretty in town. I know that this is your depressed coffee shop. Can't fool me."

"Is that so?"

Dannie nodded. "Nobody comes here unless they're depressed, Tony. You just happen to be the only person here who won't kill me for asking."

"Not sure about that," said Tony, jokingly of course, before downing some more of his coffee.

Dannie sighed. "Here, let me get you another one of those. Wouldn't want you to have to actually stand up to order another drink now, would we?"

Tony gave a short, quiet laugh as Dannie turned and walked off. Dannie knew Tony too well. It was almost creepy, but kinda cool too. In a way that made sense to Tony. More or less.

When Dannie returned he put down the coffee and then sat down across from Tony, who didn't comment. It wasn't the first time Dannie had done this, and as far as Tony was concerned it didn't really count as avoiding work when business was this far from booming.

"So," Dannie started, "I know you don't wanna talk about whatever it is that's making you look like your Iron Man suit was spray-painted pink, but you've got to give me something. I am so bored right now that I may have to go back to Ireland and count potatoes to make a living."

Tony smiled at that. He really did like Dannie.

"Sounds like you ain't too fond of the good old home country," Tony pointed out.

Dannie shrugged. "Well, I do miss the place sometimes. If you're lucky enough to be Irish, then you're lucky enough." He leant forwards. "Now start some kind of conversation before I turn that coffee into a weapon."

"Okay." Tony looked around. In the opposite corner he could see the man who had entered not too long ago looking out of the window. There was something profoundly _odd _about him, so Tony jerked his head in the guy's direction and asked, "You know anything about that guy?"

Dannie nodded. "Sure. He's been in a few times now. Not as friendly or famous as you so I don't know his name, but I do know that he doesn't seem the friendliest of people. And he's English."

"English?"

"Sure enough," confirmed Dannie. "It's nice to have someone come in here who isn't American every now and again. No offense."

"Meh, none taken," Tony assured the man opposite him.

"Like Pa used to say," Dannie began, the way he often did before an "old Irish saying", "there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are Irish, and those who wish they were."

"I dunno," said Tony thoughtfully. "Green's not really my colour."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that the official colour of Ireland is blue. It's on flags and official hats and stuff," said Dannie before his phone beeped.

Tony found looking at the apparently English guy again as Dannie checked his phone. There was something about him that Tony _knew _that he should recognise, but he couldn't quite figure out what. Huh. Maybe Latra _was _still messing with his mind in some way.

"Crap," said Dannie suddenly. "I swear, the old man must me watching me twenty-four/seven."

"What?" questioned Tony, turning back to the man who was sitting across from him.

"My uncle must be watching me or something," Dannie explained, clearly exasperated. "Gotta go sort out some in the back until someone else actually shows up. See you later, Tony."

"Yeah," said Tony with a nod. "See you."

As Dannie stood and walked away, Tony scanned the room again. After an uncomfortable moment of eye contact with the eBook reader woman, he found himself looking at the apparently English guy again. And blinked, because it was suddenly like a fog (though admittedly a thin one) lifted from in front of his vision.

Of course. How could that man _not _be Loki?

Thinking back over the time since the guy had entered, Tony realised that there had been something about the man that made him uncomfortable. Almost like he hadn't wanted to look at him. He guessed that was some kind of magic or something, and that Loki was allowing Tony to be able to see who he really was. Dannie definitely hadn't been able to tell, and anyone would recognise Loki if he just went around without any kind of guise.

And man, did Tony get that whole thing. Maybe magic that could disguise him would be kinda cool, really.

Picking up the coffee that Dannie had just left him, Tony stood up to go and speak to Loki because hey, why the hell not at this point?

When Tony reached Loki, the god did not look up or acknowledge his presence in any way, really. He just kept looking out of the window, his face stoic. Tony, however, decided to pass this off and speak anyway. Was it egotistical to think that Loki had only come to Paddy's to see Tony? But … how could he know that Tony would be here?

Okay, too many brain befuddling questions. It was time to, you know, _actually say _something.

"Well you're just everywhere, aren't you?"

"When I need to be," answered Loki instantly, still not looking up.

"Are you doing anything in particular?" Tony asked, because he just had to.

"Well, initially I was supposed to be making sure that Latra hadn't turned you into 'a babbling buffoon', to use the exact vocabulary."

"And?" Tony questioned, inviting himself to sit across from Loki.

"I believe that that particular job was unnecessary."

Loki was still looking away from Tony. It was almost as if Loki seemed to think that looking Tony in the face was going to cause him some kind of harm. Tony had to wonder just what the hell that was all about, because it wasn't like Loki could just expect to show up in front of him and be ignored. Right?

Meh, it sounded right at least.

"That was low, dude," said Tony after a second, in response to Loki's half-hearted jibe.

"Though not untruthful," was all the response Tony received. And actually, given the way Tony behaved a lot of the time, Tony did have to admit to himself that Loki kinda wasn't lying about that one.

However, something about the way Loki was as he sat there was severely … wrong. Like he wasn't himself, or something. Heh. As if Tony actually knew how Loki behaved when he was being entirely himself. Plenty of things about the man told him that he didn't.

"Aren't lies supposed to be your thing?" Tony asked, and then promptly wished that he hadn't.

When Tony spoke those words, Loki finally looked away from the window. And Tony didn't know if there it was because his head was now in order again or if it was because he found himself not focusing on anything else (even Latra), but he noticed some things about the way that Loki looked that he just hadn't the last couple of times he had seen him.

Loki looked ill. Yes, that was the best way to put it. How had Tony not seen it before? Because, thinking back, the last two times Loki had spoken to him he had appeared not too differently to how he looked as he sat there drinking tea.

Loki was definitely paler than Loki remembered him and … thinner, it seemed. Weaker. And the clothes he was wearing didn't seem right, somehow. Yeah, there was green on him. And leather. Of course. But when Tony thought about it, he realised that, if Loki were to wear more Earth friendly clothes, then they would be rather expensive ones. The clothes Loki was wearing definitely weren't.

Worst of all, were Loki's eyes. They seemed dark, shadowy, and raw. Tony didn't like having to look at them. It was like their green (though he seemed to remember them being blue, or something) had become tired and rusty. And if none of this could be just put down to lack of sleep, something which often ailed Tony, then it seemed that Loki was genuinely ill. That really was what seemed to be the case.

And Tony had seen Loki looking like this, and his brain had ignored it. How the _hell _had he let that happen? Because, in all honesty, Tony found himself really caring about this.

"Are you okay?" asked Tony, genuine worry in his voice.

"Are you?" The question was almost harsh, but there was no real bite. Tony knew that it was best to just answer, and leave Loki's matters private. There was no getting information out of Loki that Loki didn't want to give.

"Uh, I guess," Tony muttered, answering Loki's question. "Headache's gone."

"Good," said Loki simply.

Tony frowned. "You think?"

"But of course, Stark," Loki answered, smirking. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"See, I can't tell how serious you're being." Tony allowed (forced) a smile to grow onto his lips, before downing a whole lot of coffee to try and cover whatever was going on with his face.

"It is of no consequence," came Loki's response. "What is important is the fact that Latra has calmed down. For now, at the very least."

"At the very least," repeated Tony, his voice flat.

Loki was silent for a moment. Tony watched him, and saw some kind of cringe spark across his face for a minute. Something must have crossed his mind. But what?

God, Tony was actually worried about Loki. And it felt fucking weird.

"Stark," Loki began quietly, "you must know that I understand how you feel about having to look after Latra. I was in possession of her for a while, and I am aware of how unpleasant it is."

Tony considered Loki's words for a moment, drinking a tiny bit more of his coffee as Loki finished his tea with a couple of swallows. The god (if that's what he was; it was a confusing situation, or something) seemed genuine in what he had said. And Tony knew that Loki did have Latra for a while, because he had been the one who had given the necklace to Tony in the first place. Had it been Latra who had done this to Loki? Because, if it had been, then Tony had to wonder why he had recovered from what Latra was doing.

Wow. With so many unanswered questions, maybe it really was wise to keep this from the other Avengers. Or not. Ugh, Tony had no idea.

Loki was looking at Tony, waiting. Right then, it was time for Tony to ask a random, totally pulled out of his ass question.

"And I'm seriously the only person you could give that necklace too?"

_Really, Tony? Was that all you could think of?_

"Are you able to think of anyone else?" Loki's answer was quick, rocky.

"Uh…" Tony ran through a bunch of names in his mind. "I guess not."

"As I said, my hands are tied." Loki sighed, and leant back a little in his chair. "Though admittedly not with the best rope available."

Okay, so Tony had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean. It did trigger a thought or two, though. Just who the hell was it who owned the necklace, and how on earth had Loki gotten hold of it? Shit, was there any question Tony could ask that would cause Loki to want to give anything akin to a straight answer?

"You know, Loki," Tony's voice was slow. "You didn't tell me much about the person who actually owns the necklace."

"No, I didn't," Loki agreed. "In truth I wish that I knew more about him myself. I am aware of the fact that he is the only person able to come close to fully controlling Latra, and I have happened upon suggestions of his rather twisted outlook."

Tony nodded, deciding that he believed Loki, and asked, "Ketchup with ice cream twisted or total world domination twisted?"

Loki sighed. "In all honesty, Stark, it would not surprise me if both apply."

"In all honesty, eh?" asked Tony, though he had no idea why.

When Loki blinked at him, Tony scrambled to find something else to say.

"So what's the deal with you being so against the whole world domination thing?" Yeah, maybe treading lightly really wasn't Tony's strongpoint. "I dunno if you remember, but you did try to do that yourself not too long ago."

Loki looked down for a second, his face speaking of a silent argument. When he looked up again, having both won and lost, the guy was smirking. Yeah, Tony didn't think that Loki made any sense sometimes.

"Yes, I did. But I handled it so much more elegantly."

Tony frowned at that. "Did you just make a joke?"

"Did you just empty six sugars into your coffee?" Loki shot back.

Tony looked down at his half empty cup, and realised that he had done just that. Huh. What the hell was that about? He had to wonder, because that was … yeah. He didn't know.

And just when he thought that he was getting a hold over his brain again.

"Shut up," was all Tony could say. "So, are you just staying here then?"

Loki twitched his mouth, which Tony figured was basically a Loki-shrug, and said, "I have no other place to be at this moment."

"Okay." Tony sat quietly for a second, before: "Hey, are you opposed to me just leaving the necklace in a drawer all the time instead of, you know, actually keeping an eye on it?"

"Handle the situation however you want, Stark. It isn't my funeral."

"Cool. 'Death by necklace', eh? Nothin' manlier."

"Quite."

Tony leant back in his chair, and he looked around the room. He noticed that Dannie had come out of the back room, and that the man looked away from him quickly as soon as his eye was caught. Tony almost didn't want to know how his next conversation with Dannie was going to go, and decided not to think about it. Because of this decision Tony turned back to Loki and asked the first question that came to his mind.

"So Loki, I take it you've never seen _Star Wars_?"

x-x-x

There was a young woman sitting behind a screen in a small room, staring at a collection of readings that told her as much information as she could get, which was not enough. She wondered if there was a way that she could get more information on Latra's owner. If there was, though, maybe the only source would be … her. But no, the woman behind the screen couldn't offer that woman the honour of helping her. That heathen didn't deserve that much pity.

The woman twisted the silver ring that sat on her thin finger around her flesh, and thought of Laufeyson. He had left as soon as the hold over him had weakened and given him the chance to do so, and so far had not returned. The woman smiled, knowing that he would be forced to return at any moment. As soon as she felt her ring finger begin to itch, she knew that it was time.

It was all very well for Laufeyson to keep an eye on the person that he had given the necklace two every now again, the woman supposed, but she had to make sure that she kept a tight hold over him. That was the only way to keep things … safe.

"Come on, Laufeyson," the woman whispered to herself. "Let's not mess about."

The young woman clicked her tongue when she felt Loki reappear in his tiny room down the dingy hallway. As long as she was not feeling the ripping sensation that likely tore through Loki's chest as he was force to leave wherever he had been, then she was fine with dragging him across these large distances, then what about the spells did she have to worry.

x-x-x

After a while of sitting with Tony in Paddy's, Loki had excused himself in a couple of words and walked out. Tony followed him with his eyes, and saw him seemingly vanish just before he would have been entirely from view. Luckily, or whatever, nobody else saw a guy vanish into thin (or thick, around this part of this city) air. Tony's text alert sounded almost instantly after Loki left, but for whatever reason he ignored it.

Tony couldn't decide whether Loki was in a hurry, or just rude in that circumstance. He went with the first, because that made him feel better about himself.

On his way out, Tony was stopped by Dannie.

"So," was all Dannie said at first.

"So what?" asked Tony, knowing what the answer was going to be. He knew what Dannie thought had been going on with Loki, and trying to argue with Dannie about it was just going to make things worse.

"Nothing." Dannie smiled. "Just thinking of something my pa used to see."

"And what was that?"

"He who lies with dogs wakes up with fleas."

The answer came quickly, and struck Tony hard. The situation suddenly stopped being a slightly awkward situation and suddenly made Tony think of bigger things. If Dannie knew who Loki was, then what he said would have held much more meaning.

However, Dannie thought that Loki was just an English guy that Tony had hit on. (And given the way that Loki had left, Tony was kinda thankful of the fact that Dannie had made no mention of a failure.) Because of this fact, Tony just had to go along with Dannie.

"I'm the dog in this scenario, aren't I?"

"Of course." Dannie chuckled. "I've had my disputes with random English strangers before, but I kinda feel like I should have given him some kind of warning."

Tony laughed.

"By the way, you owe me for that second coffee," Dannie reminded Tony.

Tony pulled some out of his pocket and handed it to Dannie, who put it in the register and then seemed to just guess the amount of change that Tony needed. Not that it mattered, really. Tony suddenly found himself thinking about those people who didn't carry money around with them, and how massively inconvenient that would be.

"I'll see you later, Dannie."

"Yeah, see you."

Tony shot a mock salute to the now glaring eBook reader woman before spinning on his heels and exiting Paddy's.

x-x-x

Once back at home Tony began aimlessly wandering, both physically and within his mind, and it wasn't too long before he heard a loud "_oof!_" sound followed by something breaking. Great. So a couple of the others had gotten themselves into a fight, it seemed. What were the odds that Tony was going to have to pay for that one?

As Tony approached the room the fight seemed to be taking place in, Bruce exited with a blanched appearance. The Hulk may have been all for violence and the like, but not Bruce. Tony found his heart going out to him in that moment.

"Hey, Tony," Bruce greeted, closing the door to the room behind him.

"Hey, Bruce." Tony chose to leave the subject of the fight alone. "Done any science recently?"

"Nothing of note."

"Okay."

At the sound of something slamming against the door and … yeah, Barton swearing loudly, Bruce cringed slightly and took a few steps away. Tony glared at the door as if the people on the other side of it would be able to pick up on that before following his beckoning friend.

"Are you okay, Tony?" Bruce asked when they were both firmly _not _where somebody could come flying through the wall. The number of times that had happened was frankly ridiculous. So much for getting along, huh?

"Yeah." The old lie felt stale on Tony's tongue after so many retellings. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Bruce looked away for a second at that, like he was wrestling over whether or not to tell Tony or not. After a few moments, though, he did answer.

"I got another text from Pepper," he explained. "More than one, actually."

Tony nodded in response. He had figured that, after the truly crappy explanations he had offered her, that Pepper would continue asking the others about him. She really did worry, and Tony wished that he was able to be more honest with her.

"She's not very happy, Tony," Bruce continued. "She told me that she called you and that you didn't really give her any honest answers."

"Oh … Yeah." Man, Tony must have sounded like an idiot right then.

"Yeah." Bruce took in a sharp breath. "Just talk to her properly, okay? Before Steve gets so many texts that he has to lecture you too."

"Can't have that, can we?" Tony offered a smile.

"Not at all," agreed Bruce, returning the gesture.

Just then, the sound of a door opening came from behind Tony. He turned, and saw Clint that Clint had halfway emerged from the room.

"Banner, get in here," Clint commanded. "I think I'm about to win a bet."

"Yeah, okay," Bruce called over, uncomfortable. "I'll see you later, Tony. Call Pepper."

"Course," Tony promised, his mind already trying to work out what the hell he would say if he did so, after how badly the last conversation with her had gone he still didn't know.

"Hi, Stark," said Clint as Bruce moved to enter the room in which the fight, or whatever, was taking place. "We'll pay for what happened in there. Promise."

"I'll hold you to that, Barton."

"Sure."

As Clint and Bruce vanished into the room again, Tony heard the sound of Thor's thundering laughter before (and after) the door closed and suddenly thought of Loki again. Thor rarely spoke about his brother, or things to do with Asgard in general, but he did occasionally let slip the odd piece of information that one could pick up on if they were paying attention. Hm. If Tony could frame the conversation right, then maybe he could get some information from him that would help in the whole understanding what the hell was up with Loki business. Plus Thor often seemed like he needed someone to talk to about Loki and all that, so maybe Tony could actually do some good if he spoke to the god. Fancy that.

It was then that Tony remembered the text he had received while at Paddy's. He slipped out his phone and checked the message.

_**I knew that you wouldn't limit yourself to just hitting on the ladies, T. And it was a British guy, too. Do you know how much money that just made me?  
**__**D.**_

It was obvious who the text was from, even though the number wasn't in Tony's list of contacts. Dannie. Who had seemingly inexplicably gotten Tony's number from somewhere, and made a bet about his sexual orientation with some unknown person. It was only because it was Dannie that Tony was okay with this, because this just seemed like something Dannie would do. Tony thought for a second before shooting him a response.

_**Don't think I wanna know what kinda bet you'd make on something like that. And I'm not using the toilet in Paddy's again, BTW.**_

Seriously, Tony wasn't. What the hell else could Dannie find out during Tony's brief absences? Again, if it wasn't Dannie then he would have found this a lot creepier. Tony didn't spend nearly as much time with Dannie as he did with a lot of the other people he knew, but that was the kind of thing that he had come to expect from the guy. And it was fine. Probably.

Tony made sure to add Dannie as a contact so that he didn't receive any, uh, surprises in the future before putting his phone into his pocket and entering the door his friends were situated behind to make sure that nobody was dead or anything.

x-x-x

_Like tea do you, Laufeyson? I'm sure that's lovely for you._

_A. G._

* * *

**Dannie wasn't originally gonna have that much of a part to play in the chapter. I was just trying to think of a name for the guy at Paddy's and he kinda exploded as a character.**

**If you care, Dannie was named after Dannie Abse, because when I was trying to think of a name I suddenly remembered that I had read his book _Ash On a Young Man's Sleep _a few years ago in my English class. Dannie Abse is a Welsh poet, but I'm sure that naming an Irish barista after him at the time.**

**Again, special thanks to SDenglerInc for reading through my work. Any mistakes left are entirely my fault.**

**Dainty xx**


End file.
